Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection Blu-rayReview

When you're an uber-fan of something like Friday the 13th, it's hard not to be super psyched when you hear about a set like the recently-released Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection finally getting produced. But then it's also hard not to be especially critical when you analyze what exactly is on the set.

"I warned you not to text and drive!"

First and foremost, this set is notable because it has every single Friday the 13th movie ever made. There have been several Friday box sets before, but they never had all the films, for the simple reason that Paramount released the original eight movies and then New Line Cinema took over the franchise after that. Thus, we had more than one Part 1-8 box set on DVD from Paramount, and a separate set of the three films -- Freddy vs. Jason included -- New Line made prior to the 2009 remake… The remake, by the way, which actually was produced both by New Line and Paramount, due to complicated rights issues involving the original film. Oh, Hollywood!

Pamela Voorhees - loving mother.

So The Complete Collection is just that when it comes to the series, with all twelve Friday the 13th movies so far, up through the remake. And, also, not unimportantly, this marks the first time quite a few of these movies have been released on Blu-ray at all, which is exciting for fans.

"And THAT's how we're going to steal the Declaration of Independence, Jason!"

And yet, a close analysis of this set has created quite a bit of uproar by some Friday faithful. When it comes to the special features, nothing new has been created, which is a let down, as it would seem a collection of this sort would provide good reason to. More frustrating however is that the set doesn't even include all the previously produced extras. Paramount made two versions of their Friday the 13th movies on DVD - the first in 2004, the second in 2009. But while a good portion of the extras from those previous releases have made it onto this set, not all of them have. And there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to it. It would almost be easier to accept if none of the 2004 extras were here, but some commentaries did make it - so why not all of them? Who knows.

The best Friday Final Girl? Come on - It's Ginny from Part 2!

Then there's the versions of the films we're getting and the very notable exclusion of the unrated Jason Goes to Hell. The unrated JGTH (which features one hell of an amazing kill - it made our list of the best deaths in the series) has previously been released on both VHS and DVD, so not including it here seems rather ridiculous.* Oh, and dropping it also drops the commentary recorded for that version. Meanwhile, Friday the 13th Part III does have a 3D version available... sort of. It's an anaglyph 3D version and certainly not true 3D Blu-ray, and makes for a pretty ugly picture (you'll want to stick to the 2D version most likely).

Back from the dead and ready to party. Wait... wrong Thom Mathews movie tagline!

So I've done all the griping and I truly do empathize with these complaints, wishing a bit more care had been put into these sets. But putting that aside... There's a lot here. Even though the transfers reflect the low budget nature of most of these films, the Blu-ray set still offers the best looking version of these movies available, with a couple of standouts, including notably strong transfers for the original film and Jason Lives, among the early/1980s installments. And yes, it’s great to finally have Blu-rays of Friday the 13th IV – X at all, all seven of which had never been released in HD before. They doubled up on some of the movies, putting two per disc for Part V-X, but personally, that's not a big deal, given the lack of notable compression issues.

Only one thing can stop Jason... Feldman!

And while it is really frustrating knowing some previous extras didn't make it, so many did, and there is a ton to pour through in terms of commentaries, featurettes, interviews and more. Sure, many fans will have seen this material before on previous releases, but others will have not. If this is someone’s first time picking up a Friday the 13th collection or getting many of the particular installments, it's hard to see them thinking it was lacking anything notable that might be on their radar, except, perhaps, that Jason Goes to Hell director's cut. Certainly, in and of itself, it would take you many hours to watch all the extra features and commentaries.

Jason's metal period.

The set comes in a tin case and includes a couple of cardboard 3D glasses for Part III, a Camp Crystal Lake patch, a mini version of the Crystal Lake Memories book (featuring some excerpts) and an amusing elastic band around the whole thing with a quote from Crystal Lake’s favorite doomsday prophet, Crazy Ralph. It’s a great looking collection that also manages to take up far less space on your shelf than previous box sets.

When you buy this set, tell 'em Ralph sent ya!

At the end of the day, while one could hope for even more from this set, it's still a damn cool set to have in the first place - one that long seemed like an impossibility, given the studio politics involved. Perhaps whenever we get the next Jason movie (Come on - we all know they'll be one. They can't not make the 13th movie!), we'll get an even better collection. But for now, there's plenty to enjoy here.

*It's been pointed out to me that on the digital versions of the movies that come with this set, the version of Jason Goes to Hell is, in fact, the unrated one. Which is yet another odd thing about this set, to be sure...

The Verdict

A Friday the 13th fan with the previous releases, wishing to upgrade to the Blu-ray set, could sell those old DVDs and Blu-rays and likely get this new set for not too much extra money when purchased through Amazon or another outlet with a decent discount. And if you wanted to get this set for or as someone who had never picked up all the Friday movies before, it’s hard to think you’d be disappointed in the overall collection, given all that is here. Yes, we’ll probably get another, even better set someday, as that just seems to be the way of things. But in the meantime, this is the entire Friday the 13th saga, collected together for the first time ever, in HD, and the fact that this low budget slasher series is receiving such a treatment at all is still cause for celebration.